Introduction
Educators and psychologists recognize that it is important to help
children to develop problem-solving, analytical and analogical
thinking skills. These skills encourage a lifelong love of learning and
the habits of mind that enhance children’s experiences and potential
as they continue their school careers and become young adults.
To do this, we need to use tools that encourage higher-level and
critical thinking, foster empathy and conflict resolution, promote
social and emotional skills which studies now show play a critical
role in academic success.1
The Teaching-Story is just such a tool. These stories combined with
best-practice strategies provided in the activity guides and lesson
plans that accompany them ensure that this critical learning can take
place.
This booklet describes the unique qualities of the Teaching-Story
and how current brain research views this genre as beneficial. It
explores higher-level thinking skills, such as analogical and contextual
thinking, and describes how these are improved by the careful use of
these stories. We look at the value of open-ended questions. We see
that social and emotional, as well as empathetic benefits can be
reaped when we use Teaching-Stories. Finally, we examine strategies,
such as the use of meaningful repetition that will help us ensure
children’s successful use of this material.
1No Emotion Left Behind, August 16, 2005, New York Times. Timothy P. Shriver chairman of
the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning and of the Special
Olympics, and Roger P. Weissberg professor of psychology and education at the University
of Illinois at Chicago and president of the collaborative.
To read more, click here to download Learning that Lasts: Teaching-Stories - A Unique Tool for Educators (284 KB pdf)
